Sunshine and Silliness...

Funny, I don't feel different this morning...

But I woke up, came to work, checked my email -- and what did I find?? I've been "bootified." (*finds a mirror and looks at her backside*)(*doesn't notice anything different*) By whom? that is your grace's part. (name that shakespeare play!) Anyway, it was Matty, aka the "The Honorable Booty Authority." What a way to start a wednesday...

News of the day: the last steel girder was cut down today in new york's trade center... Y'know, there've been people doing excavation and rubble removal round-the-clock for the past nine months, seeing the wtc site every day; meanwhile I've been living my life as usual 800 miles away from manhattan and not even thinking about wtc. It makes me wonder how it felt to be working on that excavation team and living through working nights in a wreck site-- makes me appreciate my life as it is, certainly.

anyways, enjoy your day; hope it's sunnier than east lansing! this is me signing off for the day as Jonannannanna "Bootricious" Nigrelli

Hi there folks! Do you feel the world shaking? Oh wait, no, that's the computer screen, it's jumping a tiny amount-- pretty much just barely enough to start wiggin' me out.

Well, good news! I just signed up for my COM classes for next fall! It's really odd-- signing up for class used to be this nerve-racking event: will the class I want be open? is there one at the right time?? It was also exciting: ooh, what fun class do I want to take this time? floral arrangement? music history? So today when I got online, I entered the course info, and there was this tiny little bold line at the bottom of the screen that said "OST 504 has been added to your schedule." And so I zinged through, adding my entire schedule for the next two semesters; took about two minutes. Not that it's not cool-- heck, my courses are all 500 level! it was just a little anticlimactic, after waiting a month to be able to enroll.

So guess what I get to take? check this list out: medical gross anatomy, cell bio/physiology, medical biochemistry, molecular bio and medical genetics, clinical skills, doctor-patient relations, osteomanipulative medicine, medical neuroscience, medical microbiology and immunology, and the basic principles of pathology. WOW. even I am floored. I really am in med school-- it doesn't yet feel real.

Two side notes about my weekend: I spent two days with Pete and his family in Wheaton. It started out awesome-- when Pete picked her up from her nap, she immediately held out her arms so I could hold her. I totally adore this "aunt jo" thing. She and I played with her toys and worked on building up crawling muscles (she'll be scootin' around really soon) I like spending time with people and getting a glimpse into their lives, so I had a great weekend with the family.

Also, I now own THIS: an REI Half-dome plus 2 tent. Pretty good deal, and it's a good size and weight for my trip to Isle Royale this summer. Sooooooooo excited.

Enjoy your afternoon, folks!

*BMB 525 has just been added to your schedule*

# posted by Joanna @ 5:16 PM

I've moved to Lansing! I'm pretty much all moved in; I haven't gotten everything all arranged yet, but I think about what I'll do a lot-- I'm waiting for a few items that my mom'll bring up today. I've also started work (I almost forgotten that concept, with this year off) at COM's Kobiljak centers. It's pronounced ko bee yak-- they even write the pronunciation in the training manual. I check out resources to students or I watch a roomful of computers and the printer; it's good because I have a lot of time to myself for reading the NYTimes online or doing research or reading, and I'm going to start studying biochemistry so I can test out of the class for fall (make my first semester easier).

Get ready now, folks, Jen Sygit is a name you might hear a lot in the future of blues music. My friend and roommate Jen is a singer/songwriter, and she's starting to perform in the local bar scene. No website to link to yet, but I'll be sure to post it when there is one. And I'll also let you know when Carrie and I have set up our proposed "Jen Sygit Birthplace and Homesite" in Marysville-- it'll be more popular than Graceland when she's famous, so you should go early and beat the rush!

Ever just stare at a word until you thought it just had to be spelled wrong?? Fork has always been one of my favorite words for that, and I decided yesterday (after writing it down about 15 times) that shelf was too.
I also decided that "thoroughgoing" deserves special recognition-- how many words do you usually see that have 3g's, 3o's, and 2h's?? It's not used enough in the english language, unless you're English, I suppose (I read it in an article on the BBC site)

fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork fork

i almost forgot to post this: for those of you who knew my dwarf hamsters-- Harris, 'n' Ford, and Indy-- i found either harris or ford dead in his sleep tuesday night. poor thing, he was only a year and a half old. a moment of silence please...

Saw Chick Corea tonight at the lovely kalamazoo state theater. what a great show! I didn't know what to expect, since jazz and i don't really get along-- it's not that i don't respect it, i just don't know how to appreciate it. When I was in high school, I tried to expand my musical horizons by checking cds out from the public library; i took home a couple Chick Corea cds (one was maybe Indigo i think), to listen to while I read a book. And i tried to like them, boy i did; I wasn't sure about this jazz stuff about twenty minutes into it, but i listened the the whole dang cd. At the end i still didn't like it; it must've been above my tenth-grade musical iq.

So when CC and his upright bassist and drummer walked out, well, i thought "Hm, that's not what I expected him to look like"-- breezy shirt, fifty-ish years old. i'm not sure what i expected, maybe skinny, grey hair. The first half was kind of weird, the type of stuff i call jazz and don't like. i tried to find things i could appreciate-- the fact that all three of them were watching each other, looking back and forth; the bassist kept shakin' his head when he was really enjoying himself, and the drummer just seemed to be having the time of his life. Each part was weird, but i think i enjoyed three people playing weird more than i would just one solo weird.

The second half was different, more fun; i would totally go see CC again because of it. The first three songs came from their new album-- i wondered whether "Cloud Candy" was describing what 'cloud candy' would taste like, or if it described what kind of candy clouds eat-- and i really liked the tango he wrote for his mother. i'm not sure if the trio got together backstage and talked about how they had to change their style so the audience would like it, or if i just warmed up to the whole "jazz" thing and suddenly understood it. But i'm totally into the audience participation thing, so i thought it was great when CC invited the audience to join in the general making of sounds-- first clapping, then he got us to use our voices; then instead of up and down motions (louder/softer) he started wiggling and dancing, so the audience chose to make weird sounds -- and he just loved it! for the encore, he conducted us in a five-part harmony piece that he'd conceptualized for symphony and 5000 voices :) What fun! i had a great time.

moral of the story: if you have the chance to see Chick Corea, GO!

Random random... Matty pointed me at an interesting picture tonight. I wish I'd thought of this when I was a kid! I mean, I remember going upstairs every night before my brother so that I could hide behind the bannister and jump out and scare him (to which he'd usually respond by hitting me, followed my me hitting him, him crying, and me getting the blame about half the time). But markers, what a great idea. Adults don't usually think of this trick, unless one of our "friends" falls asleep early after a bar night.

The root page of the above picture has some pretty cool links. The Tourette Syndrome Barbie was kinda interesting; afterwards you can press the hearts to the right side of the window and get her to shake her head or scream or bark. (some guys' fantasy?) But the Resignations are hilarious.

I'm still hoping for progress in the middle east crisis. On one hand I agree with Powell's statement (now a month old, I believe) that Arafat is the chosen representative of the Palestinian people and Israel and the world will have to deal with him in order to even start discussion. And I felt with each day's military offensive by Israeli soldiers-- ordered by Sharon-- that peace would be more and more remote. But at the same time, how qualified is Arafat as a politician? One tv political analyst pointed out Arafat's complete lack of government system planning; he'd never suggested a form of government, educational or health system, or economic format. He's the chosen representative of the people, but what will he do after statehood is achieved? What awaits the Palestinian state? And how can anyone design economic, public service, and educational systems if the farthest goal in mind is simply freedom? And is the biased American media system not covering this kind of debate if it is indeed going on?

Hey there gang, sorry I haven't posted anything recently-- I was abducted by aliens and tested to see how I would react under extreme stress, like having to watch all of the Full House episodes back to back. Ugh, it was horrible. Really.

So what have I been up to for the last month? Well, I got accepted to MSU COM and I'm going to be part of the class of 2006-- so that's one more step on the way to "Dr. Nigrelli." I'm so excited!!!! I'm moving up to Lansing to live with friends for the summer, and then I'll start with orientation in mid-august and classes will start august 26. Whew! How it'll work is I take classes for 2 years (5 semesters including summer), then I take the first part of the medical board exams, and then I start my clinical rotations for another two years.

I had a birthday last friday -- 24 candles! A bunch of friends and I went out to the Peanut Barrel for some fun. But don't ask us about the Meijer shopping cart with two bags of kitty litter in the entryway. Really-- we don't know anything (*wink*)

In the last two weeks I've gone to a few concerts from the Gilmore Keyboard Festival: Murray Perahia, Chucho Valdes, Harry Connick Jr., and the Juiliard String Quartet. In the next few days I'll get to see Liz Story, Chick Corea, and Dave Brubeck. The Gilmore, if you've never heard of it, occurs every other year in Kalamazoo, and the organization brings in big name artists/groups, selects a Gilmore Young Artist or two, and plans master classes for college-age students. I was lucky enough, six years ago, to see Bruce Hornsby and Bela Fleck interact during ad lib piano/banjo duets (and see them closer up during an after-show catered party!) as well as Yo-Yo Ma conduct a master class. How awesome! It's unique experiences like these that make me really excited about music in all its forms.

I'm off to continue packing to move up to the Clemens St house. Take care, and enjoy the spring weather!